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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Nat Geo WILD, in partnership with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), announced today the Rally the Herd public service announcement (PSA) contest, to raise awareness of the plight of the African elephant.

The contest will give aspiring wildlife filmmakers, conservationists, students or anyone with a passion for protecting our largest land animals the opportunity to create a public service announcement that rallies others to action. The winning PSA will air on Nat Geo WILD.

Participants are asked to submit a PSA focused on the African elephant, with the goal of inspiring others to learn more about the decline of the population and to offer their help. PSAs should be no longer than 90 seconds and can be created with original footage, and/or footage and photography provided by Nat Geo WILD. Entries will be accepted through Sept. 7 at each of the partners’ Facebook pages or by visiting bitly.com/RallyTheHerd, and will be judged on the following criteria:

The top three finalists will be announced by Sept. 14, 2015, and invited to the Jackson Hole Elephant Conservation Summit, Sept. 27-29, where for three days leading elephant scientists, conservationists and advocates will convene with 650+ international media professionals to share resources and strategies, and brainstorm innovative approaches to halt the killing of elephants and illegal trafficking of ivory. The winning PSA will air on Nat Geo WILD later this year.

“Getting people to care about these elephants is the first step in motivating them to act,” said Geoff Daniels, executive vice president and general manager of Nat Geo WILD. “We look forward to seeing how these filmmakers use the camera lens to ignite that passion in viewers to want to learn and do more.”

Poachers kill as many as 35,000 elephants each year in Africa, and other threats such as habitat loss and conflict with humans are jeopardizing the future of one of the continent’s most iconic species. Nat Geo WILD takes its viewers to the front lines of this crisis, where conservation groups like AWF are battling to save the species from extinction.

“Documentaries, films, National Geographic articles and programs have all helped to inspire a sense of awe and appreciation for the African elephant,” said Dr. Patrick Bergin, CEO of AWF. “Now we need the camera lens to inspire advocates for their survival.”

Lisa Samford, executive director of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and Conservation Summit, added, “We aim to engage the power of media to influence global change to spark a cultural shift and empower a public front that doesn’t tolerate the use of ivory products and illegal poaching of the world’s elephants.”

The guide who helped an American dentist slaughter Cecil the lion may only face a maximum £260 fine or a year in prison if they are convicted of his illegal killing, reports Matthew Drake from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

A lawyer acting for the guide hired by American dentist Walter Palmer revealed the shocking penalties after claiming to have conclusive evidence the rare black-maned beast was lawfully shot.

He also insists there is no charge under Zimbabwean law that could be used to bring Dr Palmer to trial if he was extradited back to Africa.

Mr Givemore Mvhiringi, the defence lawyer for hunt handler Theo Bronkhorst, said: “Under the law he can only get a fine of $400 (£260) or one year in prison.

“There is no point bringing Walter Palmer back to Zimbabwe because there is no charge I can find under the law that can be brought against him.

“He would not be tried under the same charges as Mr Bronkhorst.”

Reuters

"In bad place": Mr Bronkhorst

Mr Mvhiringi insisted that despite claims by Zimbabwe’s National Park Authority his client had broken several rules, the hunter acted within the current law.

However, other reports have suggested that Dr Palmer could face penalties as severe as a five year jail term and a $20,000 (£12,900) fine for breaching the Lacey Act, which enforces legal protection for endangered species around the world.

Speaking for the first time, Mr Mvhiringi said: “Our line of defence is that Mr Bronkhorst is innocent and he has all the necessary paperwork to prove it.

“We asked for the postponement of the case so we can put our defence together. We have to be sure of matters for the interests of our client.”

Star: Cecil was a major tourist attraction at the Hwange National Park

The paltry sentences are likely to fuel fury towards Dr Palmer who has been in hiding since reports of Cecil’s crossbow death broke last month.

Campaigners have protested outside his dentist surgery while he has even received death threats amid growing anger over the protected animal’s execution.

Tributes to the butchered lion have poured in thousands of miles away at his office in Bloomington, Minnesota, where protesters dressed as “dentist hunters” also threw stuffed lions at his house.

Splash

Abuse: Marco Island Florida home of Dr Palmer

Speaking at Dube and Company offices in Victoria Falls, the respected lawyer revealed how the National Parks Authority have secretly handed his client a $20,000 compensation bill for Cecil.

He said: “The National Parks have written to Mr Bronkhorst asking for compensation of $20,000. That is not joking money in Zimbabwe.

“His reputation is at stake and his livelihood. At the moment he is in a bad place but this should get better in a month or so when we go to court.

“At the moment Mr Bronkhorst has the police able to come to him at any time of day. They have been through his house, his documents and his trophies.”

Mr Mvhiringi claimed that while the National Parks Authority argue certain rules were broken, these are simply not stated in law.

He said: “He will be prosecuted by local prosecutors. All the other cases like this have never been reported, it is only in this case because it is Cecil. If it was any other lion none of this would have happened. They acted within the law.”

Andy Commins

Much-loved: Cecil the lion

The magnificent 13-year-old beast was shot with a compound crossbow by Dr Palmer, who paid £35,000 to shoot the lion and return him to America as a trophy after luring him off the government-protected land at Hwange National park.

The dentist has admitted killing the predator, who was fitted with a Global Positioning System collar as part of the Oxford University study.

But he said in a statement he had hired professional guides and believed all the necessary hunting permits were in order.

He has not been sighted since his identity was revealed by Zimbabwean conservationists.

Zimbabwe has received worldwide backing after renewing calls for Dr Palmer to be extradited from the United States after accusing him of killing the much-loved animal illegally.

Mr Mvhiringi said that Dr Palmer would be better off being extradited after the hate mob blew up against him in his hometown of Minnesota.

He said; “Mr Palmer would be more of a free man in Zimbabwe than he currently is in America. There is much sympathy here for the dentist in Zimbabwe.”

Environment minister Oppah Muchinguri said he should be handed over to Zimbabwean officials to face justice and that prosecutors had started the legal process to make that happen.

Referring to the 55-year-old trophy hunter as a “foreign poacher”, she said: “We are appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition to Zimbabwe so that he can be made accountable for his illegal actions.”

Muchinguri also said Palmer’s use of a bow and arrow to kill the lion was in contravention of Zimbabwean hunting regulations.

Mr Bronkhorst and Honest Ndlovu appeared in court last week charged with poaching offences.

REUTERS

Also charged: Honest Ndlovu

It came as it emerged that one of Cecil’s last eight cubs has been killed by another male who attempted to mate with its mother.

Wildlife experts at Hwange National Park fear that the remaining cubs in the pride, led by three lionesses, could have just days left to live.

They warn that the trophy shooting of Cecil could trigger a “cascade of deaths” as cubs are typically killed by the next lion in the hierarchy so he could father his own offspring with the females in the pride.

Local guides had given the pride - who have been abandoned by Cecil’s friend Jericho – just a five per cent chance of survival after solitary males were spotted prowling nearby.

The pack has fled their former den at Ngweshla and have been hiding behind a water pan known as Kennedy Two.

A source said the female had been forced to stay on the run to avoid the advances of intruding males but warned that the cubs would struggle to keep up.

It comes after days of silence and not being seen in public. The dentist even disconnected his office phone.The firestorm over the death of Cecil is even reaching the White House.

More than 150,000 people have signed a White House petition demanding his extradition to Zimbabwe.

One of Dr. Palmer’s two guides, Theo Bronkhorst, has already been charged with illegally hunting Cecil. According to the guide, after slaughtering Cecil and cutting off his head as a trophy, Palmer wanted more blood.

Bronkhorst told The Daily Telegraph: “The client asked if we would find him an elephant larger than 63 pounds (the weight of one tusk) which is a very large elephant, but I told him I would not be able to find one so big, so the client left the next day and went to Bulawayo for the night and then flew out midday the following day."

Monday, August 10, 2015

President Robert Mugabe has said Zimbabweans failed in their responsibility to protect Cecil, a lion shot by an American hunter.

President Mugabe said his compatriots should protect their natural resources from what he called foreign "vandals".

In a speech for National Heroes Day he said: "Even Cecil the lion - he is yours. He's dead!"

The lion - a favourite at Hwange National Park - died after he was shot by Walter Palmer using a bow and arrow.

The dentist from Minnesota has said he believed the hunt was legal.

It is thought he paid about $50,000 (£32,000) to hunt 13-year-old Cecil, who wore a GPS collar and was being studied by Oxford University for conservation purposes.

It is alleged Cecil the lion was lured from a protected zone to be shot

Mr Mugabe used a speech in Harare to make his first public comments about the lion, whose death sparked international condemnation.

He said: "He was yours to protect and you failed to protect him.

"There are vandals who come from all over of course... some may be just ordinary visitors, but (there are) others who want to vandalise, to irregularly and illegally acquire part of our resources."

Prosecutors have said the lion was shot with an arrow after being lured out of its protected zone, and died from a bullet wound inflicted 40 hours later after it had suffered major blood loss.

Zimbabwe is battling to curb illegal hunting and poaching which threatens to make some of its wildlife extinct.

The country is seeking Mr Palmer's extradition.

Some commentators have criticised the attention that the death of an animal has received when the nation has endemic poverty and unemployment, and political strife and repression are commonplace.

Much of Mr Mugabe's speech was spent remembering those killed in the struggle for independence.

The BBC's Brian Hungwe reports he made startling allegations that skulls of liberation war heroes of the late 1890s were being kept as "war trophies" in a museum in the UK, which he described as the "British History Museum", an apparent reference to the British Museum.

The British Museum told the BBC that it did not have any human skulls from Zimbabwe in its collection.

Join the facebook event for Cecil and all endangered animals https://www.facebook.com/events/469540136558103/

Sunday, August 9, 2015

The death of Cecil the Lion King has rallied princes and strong men and women to rally behind the banner of animal protection. DailyMail has reported that Prince Harry recently joined the fight against poachers, flying to Kruger Park reserve to confront poachers in an epic shoot out with two poachers along the Crocodile River. One poacher was injured and the prince's rangers recovered a high-power rifle and silencer. The army unit also called on helicopter and drones with thermal imaging to spot poachers and coordinate their arrests.

It is reported that up to 40 poachers cross the border from Mozambique to poach in Kruger park every year. Major Reneral Johan Jooste considers this as a declaration of war by armed foreign criminals on South Africa and they will do all they can to win it.

This is great news for the animals as the international community is stepping up to protect endangered species and take out poachers.

The Zimbabwean researcher who followed Cecil the lion for nine years, and was the one who discovered he hadbeen killed, says he opposes a ban on hunting.There has been an international outcry over the killing of Cecil and calls for hunting to be stopped, but the money raised by hunters helps keep the parks in business.

CECIL

(In Memory of Cecil The Lion)

Where once you roamed a gentle soul,With a fierce face and eyes of coal,But ever still the beast you were,Like a loving king in a lions fur.

You gave a smile to a world in aweAnd shouted back with a gentle roar,Then raised your Cubs on the barrow landWhere human sit and lions stand.

But now you’ve gone just time remainsAnd human hands show bloody stainsSo goodnight Cecil and rest in peace,You remain a king in a Golden Fleece.

~ Peter D Hehir

When will we learn that this world is not our…RIP to the King of The Lions

CECIL

Where once you roamed a gentle soul,With a fierce face and eyes of coal,But ever still the beast you were,Like a loving king in a lions fur.

You gave a smile to a world in aweAnd shouted back with a gentle roar,Then raised your Cubs on the barrow landWhere human sit and lions stand.

But now you’ve gone just time remainsAnd human hands show bloody stainsSo goodnight Cecil and rest in peace,You remain a king in a Golden Fleece.

~ Peter D Hehir

When will we learn that this world is not our…RIP to the King of The Lions

When Cecil the lion's carcass was finally found after he was lured out of a Zimbabwe wildlife reserve to be killed by an American hunter, it was a headless, skinless skeleton the vultures had been picking at for about a week.

Conservationists decided the most natural thing was to leave the bones where they were for hyenas to finish off, said Brent Stapelkamp, a lion researcher and part of a team that had tracked and studied Cecil for nine years.

Stapelkamp darted Cecil and put his last GPS collar on in October. He was probably the last person to get up close before Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer used a bow and a gun to kill the now-famous lion with the bushy black mane, its head and skin eventually cut off as trophies.

Stapelkamp had first alerted authorities that something might be wrong after Cecil's GPS collar stopped sending a signal.

The killing of the big cat in early July has unleashed global outrage, sending Palmer into hiding back home in suburban Minneapolis, leading to the arrest of the local hunter he employed, and prompting Zimbabwe's environment minister to say the southern African country would seek Palmer's extradition to face charges.

Stapelkamp shares the anger, not just because of the demise of Cecil. Also because, he said, it's not the first time a lion has been killed illegally around Hwange National Park in northwestern Zimbabwe, a reserve known for its rich wildlife. About a dozen lions in the region were killed illegally in recent years, Stapelkamp said, and no one was caught.

“I think this was just the final straw,” Stapelkamp told The Associated Press in a phone interview from the Hwange reserve. “Everyone locally just thought, no ways, we're not letting anyone get away with this anymore.”

Cecil had an intriguing story, making him a celebrity in Hwange. He arrived as a kind of lion refugee, alone and wandering after being displaced from another territory. Cecil befriended another male lion, Jericho, and together they grew and watched over two prides, one with three lionesses and seven cubs and another with three lionesses.

Impact larger than one lion

Cecil's killing will have an impact on the area, explained Stapelkamp, a field researcher for an Oxford University study on lions.

Jericho may not be able to hold their territory alone and could be chased away by rival lions. Unprotected, the lionesses and cubs would then be under threat and also move away or be killed. Safari operators who invested millions of dollars in the area would lose one of their biggest attractions for tourists.

“They're burning fire breaks. They're grading roads. They're pumping water,” Stapelkamp said. “They're spending a lot of money in the management of lions and then someone just draws it across the railway lines having not paid a penny in its management and shoots it and runs away with its skin. It's unacceptable.”

Zimbabwe's National Parks and Wildlife Authority said Saturday said it has suspended the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants outside of Hwange National Parks, and that bow and arrow hunts have also been suspended unless they are approved by the authority's director.

The authority also said it is investigating the killing of another lion in April that may have been illegal.

Stapelkamp, unsure of the details of Cecil's killing, described the usual tactics of hunters to draw an animal onto private land and out of the park where it is protected. The two areas are separated by a railway line. Hunters shoot a zebra or giraffe and hang it on a tree; the main bait. They then drag the intestines of that animal, “something that really smells,” Stapelkamp said, up and down the park boundary behind a vehicle. Sometimes they'll even play the sounds of a dying buffalo over a loudspeaker to attract a lion.

The lion “comes across that scent trail and it leads him straight to this bait,” Stapelkamp said. “It rushes in for a free meal and they're waiting ... and they kill him like that.”

Dentist's story doubted

Even on private land, this hunt was still illegal, Stapelkamp said, because no hunting quotas for lions were issued in the region this year. Legal hunts do happen, he said, but only after authorities consult with ecologists and decide that it won't adversely affect the area.

This didn't happen with Cecil, Stapelkamp said, and he doesn't believe Palmer's story that he trusted his professional guide to ensure a legal hunt.

“He's a well-educated man, he's got a lot of resources,” Stapelkamp said. “You could do your homework. Due diligence. You would know that you're hunting in a controversial area. You've got a GPS you could have in your pocket and you have a look at the map, and you say, `listen, friend, I think we're in the wrong area.' There's no excuse.”

Palmer came “with the intention of getting the biggest lion that he could and getting out. And he got caught,” Stapelkamp said.

People are outraged and so they should be heres some of the most recent photos and comics of Walter Palmer shaming his killing of Cecil the lion. Keep fighting Justice is coming. Support Cecil by joining Shame Lion Killer Dr Walter Palmer and River Bluff Dental on Facebook

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According to the American Humane Association, nearly 10 million animals are euthanized annually in the United States. That's 833,333 every month- 208,333 every week - 27,778 each day - 1,157 every hour! Or...think of it this way - 19 companion animals are put to sleep every minute of every hour of every day each year!! PLEASE do your part by having your pet spayed or neutered!!